Aaron Gleeman

Now that the Orioles are headed back to the playoffs for the first time since 1997 fans are coming out of the woodwork and Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun wrote an article about some celebrities making their Orioles fandom known. My favorite was this little tidbit about lifelong Orioles fan Joan Jett: Jett sent…

I’m as sick of “Moneyball” mentions as anyone by now–A’s rookie Jarrod Parker was 14 years old when the book came out, after all–but this tweet from the movie’s co-star, Jonah Hill, was amusing: If the Oakland A’s go all the way this year Pitt and I better get rings. — Jonah Hill (@JonahHill) October…

Lost in Mike Trout‘s historic rookie season and the heated AL MVP debate is that the Angels didn’t call him up from Triple-A until April 28 and will likely end up missing the playoffs by 2-3 games. Obviously there’s no guarantee that having Trout from Opening Day on would have equaled 2-3 more wins for…

The Nationals have scratched Gio Gonzalez from his final regular season start tonight after clinching the NL East title last night. Washington is still fighting Cincinnati for the No. 1 seed, but manager Davey Johnson has decided that resting Gonzalez for a Game 1 start in the NLDS is more important. Tom Gorzelanny will take…

Fernando Rodney had to go and ruin his perfect statistical match with Dennis Eckersley’s historic 1990 season by throwing a scoreless inning last night, moving past Eckersley for the best ERA of all time among pitchers with 50-plus innings. Technically they both still have a 0.61 ERA, but Rodney has now allowed five earned runs…

One of the nice things about clinching a playoff spot early is that you can line up your rotation optimally and the Giants are doing just that, with manager Bruce Bochy announcing that Matt Cain will start Game 1 of the NLDS. When that will be and who that will be against isn’t known yet,…

Casey Kelly had been scheduled to pitch in the Arizona Fall League in order to make up for the innings he missed while out with a strained elbow earlier this season, but instead the Padres have decided to simply shut him down until 2013. Kelly’s final start of this season will be skipped today versus…

Moving into a state-of-the-art ballpark following an offseason of big spending was supposed to equal huge attendance numbers for the Marlins, but instead Miami ranks dead last in first-year attendance among the 11 new ballparks to open since 2001. Miami has drawn 27,400 fans per game, which is a massive improvement over previous seasons at…

Whatever odds Nick Markakis had of playing for the Orioles again this season took a hit today, as the team announced that he won’t have the pin removed from his fractured thumb as hoped. Instead that will have to wait another week, which likely means Markakis is at least three weeks from potentially seeing game…

Ivan Nova has been a mess in the second half, including back-to-back ugly starts in which he lasted just 2.1 and 4.2 innings, and today manager Joe Girardi dumped him from the Yankees’ rotation. David Phelps will take Nova’s place against the Red Sox tomorrow, with Nova being available out of the bullpen for what…

As expected Mark Teixeira is back in the Yankees’ lineup after sitting out 20 straight games and 30 of the past 31 games with a calf injury, playing for the first time since September 8. In his absence the Yankees initially turned to Casey McGehee, Steve Pearce, and Eric Chavez at first base, but recently…

OK, so the comparison isn’t quite perfect, but I needed a catchy headline to get you to read about this craziness. When the Cardinals lost starting shortstop Rafael Furcal for the season they called up Pete Kozma from Triple-A, where he’d hit just .232 with a .292 on-base percentage and .355 slugging percentage in 131…

I wondered about this on Twitter earlier and figured I’d expand on it a little more here. As the season winds down we’re seeing tons of articles touting various players for various awards and there’s often a location-based angle. Beat writers in Detroit think Miguel Cabrera should be the MVP. Beat writers in Baltimore think…

Derek Jeter has MLB’s best-selling jersey and Zack Greinke can’t even get his named spelled correctly on his own jersey. Seriously. Greinke took the mound yesterday wearing a jersey that had “GRIENKE” on the back, eventually switching to a correctly spelled version after someone finally noticed midway through the game. Apparently there were two jerseys…

With his 11th season in the majors winding down White Sox infielder Orlando Hudson made it clear that he’s not ready to retire, but in looking at the 34-year-old’s performance it may not be entirely up to him at this point. Hudson joined the White Sox after being released by the Padres and has hit…

Mike Napoli‘s six seasons with the Angels were filled with good production and fans clamoring for manager Mike Scioscia to play him more at catcher instead of light-hitting defensive specialist Jeff Mathis. Napoli was traded away in January of 2011 and his two seasons since leaving the Angels have been filled with crushing his former…

Darren Oliver has been so good while posting a sub-3.00 ERA in five straight seasons that it’s easy to forget he’s 41 years old, but the Blue Jays left-hander revealed yesterday that retirement is on his mind. Oliver has had one of his best seasons, throwing 56 innings with a 2.10 ERA and 52/15 K/BB…

Max Scherzer‘s status for the postseason is in question after being scratched from two of his last three starts with shoulder problems, but the Tigers right-hander had a 10-minute long toss session yesterday and reported that “everything went well.” “I was able to go to 100 feet pain-free, threw all my pitches and had a…

UPDATE: Good news for the Rangers. According to Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com, an MRI ruled out any significant issues with his shoulder. He was diagnosed with a cervical (neck) sprain, but it’s not known when he’ll be able to resume throwing. 5:42 PM: Texas’ bullpen may have just lost its top setup man right before…

Terry Francona and the Indians are no longer just a rumor. Francona confirmed reports that he’s a candidate to replace Manny Acta as Cleveland’s manager, telling Jordan Bastian of MLB.com that he’s already spoken to general manager Chris Antonetti about the gig and will eventually come in for an interview. Antonetti also acknowledged the team’s…

Neil Walker missed three weeks with a back injury, returned in mid-September to play eight games, and was shut down again earlier this week. That will be his last action of the season, as the Pirates announced that the second baseman has a herniated disc in his back and will be shut down for the…

It seems like only yesterday … One year ago today, the #Marlins hired Ozzie Guillen to be their manager — Joe Capozzi (@joecapMARLINS) September 28, 2012 And now, 66 wins, 90 losses, and just a little bit of off-field drama later … well, there are only three years and $7.5 million left on his contract.

Troy Tulowitzki hasn’t played since May 30 and it’s been three weeks since he was supposedly on the verge of rejoining the Rockies’ lineup, but the star shortstop still hasn’t given up on returning from groin surgery this season. Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that Tulowitzki will play an instructional league game Sunday,…

Earlier this week Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com wrote that the Angels were likely to decline their 2013 options on Dan Haren and Ervin Santana while focusing on re-signing Zack Greinke to a huge long-term deal. Gonzalez cited “a source familiar with the team’s thinking” and … well, Haren thinks whoever that source is has “dumb…